Monday, March 5, 2018

"Uber, Lyft Want to Ban Personal Use of Self-Driving Cars in Urban Areas"

From ExtremeTech, Feb. 5:

Self-driving cars are expected to revolutionize the entire automotive industry. Exactly how
this is going to happen has always been a matter for debate. Some
pundits think we’ll stop owning cars at all, in favor of robot vehicles
that arrive seamlessly if and when we need them. Others have predicted
smaller (though still important) changes around issues like senior
transportation, where self-driving cars could help give older people
mobility options some currently lack. Uber, Lyft, and several other
firms critically involved in self-driving cars have their own ideas
about how to improve personal transport — and one of the biggest
involves you not being allowed to drive your car at all.

In a new statement of “Shared Mobility Principles,”
companies like Didi, Lyft, Uber, and Zipcar have drafted nine
intelligent (if vague) proposals for developing urban plans to
incorporate self-driving cars and one whopper that’s guaranteed to
dominate the conversation. Numbers one through nine are well-meaning, if
vague. Declaring that cities and mobility should be considered
together, that cities should be designed to prioritize the needs of
people, calling for efficient use of shared spaces, and calling for fair
user fees are all smart ideas. But check out number 10 (emphasis
original):

We support that autonomous vehicles (AVs) in dense urban areas should be operated only in shared fleets.
Due
to the transformational potential of autonomous vehicle technology, it
is critical that all AVs are part of shared fleets, well-regulated, and
zero emission. Shared fleets can provide more affordable access to all,
maximize public safety and emissions benefits, ensure that maintenance
and software upgrades are managed by professionals, and actualize the
promise of reductions in vehicles, parking, and congestion, in line with
broader policy trends to reduce the use of personal cars in dense urban
areas.

This is merely a proposal for a set of common
principles, not a government standard, bill, or law.

Traffic congestion
inside cities is, to be sure, a real problem, and there have been
various proposals to address it, including increased reliance on mass
transit and the use of congestion pricing in cities. But attempting to
artificially segregate self-driving technology and turning it into the
sole providence of fleet providers would effectively kill it in the
individual market....MORE

"The Shared Mobility Principles for Livable Cities were developed in 2017
by Robin Chase, Zipcar co-Founder, and a consortium of leading city and
transport organizations including: the C40 Cities Climate Leadership
Group, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, Institute for
Transportation and Development Policy, Natural Resources Defense
Council, Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport (SLoCaT),
Transportation for America (T4America), Rocky Mountain Institute,
Shared-Use Mobility Center, and WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities."

...Self-driving cars can’t come quick enough. And I’ll be motherfucked if I
let UBER and LYFT stop me from getting one. The future will happen,
with or without them. We went from horses to cars, and we will do it
again. People thought the Internet was a fad. People used to carry
around change to use pay phones. So fuck off Uber, we aren’t driving
around ourselves for the rest of time, it’s just not how the world
works. Bitch.